Dallas Renegades
I didn’t think I’d be writing about an emerging football league’s premature conclusion this year. Then again, I didn’t think I’d be working from home for more than a month, so here we go.
Over the past few days, the XFL has laid off all its employees and filed for bankruptcy, effectively thrusting two proverbial nails into the league’s coffin. These consequences follow the cancelation of the revived league’s season, necessary to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and in line with cancelations from the NBA, NHL, and countless other sporting events.
The XFL’s revival didn’t excite me too much when the announcement was made a little over a year ago. But I’d learn there was more than meets the eye, and I ended up falling in love.
Any memories I have of the XFL’s first take are hazy, like a bizarre fever dream. The original, lone season way back when in 2001, with its chaotic gameplay, gimmicks, and WWE-esque showmanship, wasn’t particularly inviting to my not even 10-year-old tastes. I hadn’t even developed my toxic relationship with the Dallas Cowboys franchise by then, and the far more seasoned sports fans I know seem to merely regard the XFL as an obscure meme.
I’m now 25. I love watching sports, especially in person, and have developed a more profound appreciation for spectatorship and competition in general that a lot of people share. Still, I only had mild curiosity at best; I didn’t think I’d like the XFL.
Then Super Bowl LIV came and went, and this destitute Cowboys loyalist needed something to be excited over. Earlier this year, the Dallas Renegades began their courtship for my support.
And, yes, the quality of football left much to be desired, but 1. The Cowboys routinely leave me much to be desired, and 2. I had an easy time supporting the blue collar up-and-comers trotting onto the turf at the repurposed Globe Life Park in Arlington.
By Matt Payne
Hundreds of fans gather Sunday, March 1, at Globe Life Park before the Dallas Renegades took on the Houston Roughnecks.
Right before the coronavirus lockdown, it all became real for me on Sunday, March 1, when a friend of mine with Hear This Now, a podcast group that organized live music before games, scored me a free ticket for the first (and only) Texas Throwdown against the Houston Roughnecks.
This Cowboys fan is a Texas Rangers fan too, so it was quite surreal seeing a fully fledged football field jerry-rigged atop a baseball field at which I watched many innings growing up. Logistics aside, just like any other sport, the roar of thousands of fans intensified the closer it got to kickoff. I was excited.
As the game wore on, I realized even though these guys weren’t hanging with the millionaires of Jerry World across the street and were still ironing out kinks in sloppy plays, I couldn’t help but constantly smile and shout as a fan. Every single one of those players had a reason for why they were suited up in ‘Gades gear and not on an NFL roster.
I still saw something in them. I saw vigor.
Even after an incomplete season, a handful of XFL players have managed to make it onto NFL rosters. Breakout star PJ Walker, formerly of the Houston Roughnecks, now has a legitimate shot to be QB1 for the Carolina Panthers having signed shortly after the XFL season was canceled.
The XFL was going to be the missing piece for a lot of these guys. Hokey marketing campaign or not, #ForTheLoveOfFootball had some truth in it.
Here’s to you, XFL. Thanks for the fleeting joy you gave to many who didn’t realize they needed you.
